EP 23 Hope... While Waiting - Carrie Kittinger Part 1

Because really that is just wishful thinking, right? Earthly hope is wishful thinking, but when we can set our sights on the Lord and we can get in his word, we have true hope that we're literally anchor us. So I want you as I'm reading scripture tonight, I want you to just hear the Lord speaking this over you. Arise my darling, my beautiful one and come with me. See, the winter is past . The rains are over in gone. Flowers appear on the earth. The season of singing has come.

The cooing of devs is heard in our lands. The fig tree forms its early fruit. The blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise come my darling, my beautiful one come with me. Oh God is the one that changes seasons. And he is saying tonight, come on up. Come on up. Let's your hope arise. I've got some beautiful things for you. So some of us have grown accustomed to the gloominess and it's time to have a change of scenery, right? And you don't have to wait for the natural seasons to change.

There are times that we have to preach to ourselves and we have to say clouds. You go away. You're not welcome in my heart right now. You're not welcome in my vision right now. And I'm declaring the son of the Lord. Do we get to go to California a few weeks ago and we love to visit national parks. Our family does. And so their Joshua tree national park is there.

And so my husband and I , uh , we , we went into the visitor center cause we always like to buy little stickers and get a map and make sure, cause these, these national parks are really spread out. And especially this one in the desert. Um , so bought a couple extra water bottles just in case. And , but I overheard the , uh , the part, one of the part guides speaking to someone saying that Joshua trees are very rare.

And she said, but to see them in bloom is even more rare because they don't bloom every year. Well, we saw them in bloom. It was pretty amazing. And they had had so much rain in California this year and they even had snow in places where they'd never had snow or never had snow. But it had been years and years and years. And so what happened was there was something called a super bloom in the desert.

And so we got to experience this super bloom and we rolled down the windows and the , the fragrance of these flowers, beauty of these flowers. And I couldn't help but think of how the Lord makes streams in the desert. And when those streams of the Lord come in those desert places of our lives, there is beauty that arises for the eyes, for all of our senses. Just the fragrance of the Lord is beautiful.

And so couldn't help but think of Isaiah 43 18 and 19 forget the former things ladies, some of you tonight, the enemy is reminding you of some things maybe that had been better in your past and you're in a difficult season or things that are shameful in your past and those are no more. So we need to forget the former things we do not dwell on the past because the Lord says, see, I'm doing a new thing now. It Springs up. Do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. So the rain of the Holy spirit brings beauty and fruitfulness to even those dark and hidden places where sometimes we think there can never be fruit from that area again. And when we open ourselves up to the rain of the spirit, when we say, Holy spirit, come and fill me afresh , there is beauty that can arise. And you know what happens in the winter season? You don't see the fruitfulness, right?

We don't see the green sprouts, but there's things going deep. And so right now if you're in a season of difficulty, know that the Lord is working, he's going deep, he is never, and he's not working in a way that he's always trying to correct us. Have you ever had maybe a mob that did that where they're always trying to correct?

You know, he has a loving eye for us and so when I say he's working, he's working beauty, he's working peace , he's working joy, he's working with his loving hands and he has pleasure and doing those things for us. I love that. Romans eight 24 through 25 talks about hope and that's our theme tonight, but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has or what she already has. If we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Nobody likes to wait.

Who likes to wait? Right? But there's, you can't talk about hope without talking about waiting because within hope we're not hoping for things we already have. Right. So there is a waiting, there was a waiting upon the Lord, but don't think about it as like waiting in a return line, right? There's this there.

Think about it as as just we're waiting actively, we're doing other things, but we're, we're, we're looking and we're , we're hoping and we're waiting on the Lord to move and we're saying, what's he going to be doing? Where's he going to go? What's next? And there's an expectation and an excitement to this weight . Not like when you're in a Walmart line like, Oh , maybe we should get a little more hopeful in the Walmart line too. I don't know.

But it reminds me of the definition of faith in Hebrews 11 one says, now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. How can we be certain of what we do not see ladies? It's hope. It's looking through the eyes of Jesus. It's knowing his word and standing on his promises when we don't see, but we know that he said he's going to do it. We don't see the places that he's preparing for us in heaven.

But we know they're there and we can trust that they're, that they're there and we can have hope for those times that we will see him face to face and we can, we can take that to the bank. He is preparing a place for you and for me and it will be wonderful. So sometimes we need to get out of our comfort zones out of those dreary places and we need to see some new sites and there's no better time for that than a road trip. Anybody go on a road trip with young kids or grandkids?

Okay. Anybody hear the words? Are we there? Are we there yet? Oh, I can remember going on trips when our kids were little. They're grandparents. My mother-in-law is right there. Their grandparents used to live in Mississippi and so we would have the 12 hour drive and the kids were just toddlers and in the car seats and it was like, gosh, you know what ? When's the best time to leave? You know how that is. Do we leave early in the morning?

Do we leave like after breakfast or there was a full proof way that a friend told us about. He said if you leave like four in the morning and you have at least three hours of just dark, the kids won't wake up. You have that car ready, you get the kids out of their , their beds and you put him in the car seat and you kind of back out of the driveway slowly and quietly and you'll have about three hours on the road before you have to Dole out the snacks.

And before the kids start saying, are we there ? So we tried it. So my husband went and gassed up the car. We had it all patched the night before. So I was ready at the house. You know when he, when he's was there in the, in the driveway, we get the kids out of their beds and put him in the car seat. It was still dark out and Danny had gotten me a nice cup of coffee at quick trip. That was kind of before Starbucks were on every corner and get some donuts.

And so we pulled out of the driveway and we get to the beginning of the neighborhood and I just couldn't wait to get into the donut . I know it's, it's pretty embarrassing. It was four in the morning and we'd only been on the road for 30 seconds, but I opened up the donut bag to see what Danny had gotten for me and just the crinkle crinkle crinkle of the bag and our daughter's out of the neighborhood.

And so for 12 hours, our 18 month old in her tight in her car seat was awake until we drove up onto Holcombe Boulevard , which was where my mother-in-law lived and she woke up, or excuse me, she fell asleep. She fell asleep. 12 hours of being awake. Are we there yet, ladies? Are we there yet? Well, you know what? I think we've said that. Those words a time or two to the Lord, haven't we? We've said, are we there yet? Are we there yet?

Lord have , have you grown me in not these growing pains are starting to hurt. Are we there yet? I'm kind of ready for things to get a little easier. Are we there yet or Emory any further along on this trip of life? But of course we don't want the wrinkles and the gray hair to go with it. Right? We want all the wisdom and, and all the wonderful things that come with, with getting further along in our journey. But we want, we want the , the, the young youthfulness, right?

Oh, but are we there yet? Well, I believe that there's many in this room tonight who have been in seasons of hope deferred and it's been hard and I don't want to just assume that everybody here is in a sunshiny rainbows and unicorns time in their life. I know if we pass the microphone around tonight, there would be tears as we would tell stories of difficult things that we've come out of or that were in the middle of, or things that we were helping our kids through or our loved ones through.

And so ladies, we have times of hope deferred that makes our heart sick. What do we do in those times? What do we do? We don't have to wait until we're on the other side of things to declare the goodness of the Lord. Sometimes we need to preach to ourselves, right? And sometimes we don't need to feel like we have it all together and everything's wrapped up in a pretty bow because really that would almost be discouraging to other people, right? Couldn't join my perfect happy life.

Everything is a wonderful, I never go through anything. But on the other hand, we don't want to just be gloomy all the time. And so we want to be able to share our difficulties. And I've had friends that have helped me through so much. The last three years have been difficult for our family. And, and uh, if I were to tell you some of the things we've been through, you'd cry because they were that difficult. And I've had friends here who have helped me through it.

They've been friends who've like lowered me down to Jesus, right? They've taken the ceiling tiles out and they've, they've lowered me to Jesus. We need that. We need people in our lives that are going to come along and put their arm around us and pray for us. It passed the tissues. You know when we cry. And then rejoice when, when that season lifts and when things are joyful again, right? And there's always something for us to be thankful for in those times.

And so that is how we can be in the of the mess and still declare the goodness of the Lord and still declare the hope of the Lord. So what do we do in the middle of hope deferred? Well , Hannah, in first Samuel one she cried and she prayed and she was in great distress and she said, Lord, I'm tired of this barrenness and I need you to do something about it. The scripture says that she stood up, she stood up. Sometimes we need to stand up and we need to tell Satan to get away from us.

Sometimes we need to stand up and declare who we are in the Lord. Sometimes we need to stand up and say, Lord enough, I need you to come and do something about this. And you know what? He can handle that. He could. He wants us crying out to him while we would be wise to pray and keep serving the Lord like Zachariah and Elizabeth did.

You know they dealt with Baroness as well in their lives, but they kept serving and in fact while he was serving the Lord and while Elizabeth was outside the temple waiting for Zachariah to come out, an angel of the Lord appeared suddenly and said, you are going to have a son and he will be a joy and a delight to you. But you know what? They didn't wallow in self pity for however many years they were parent . They kept serving the Lord.

And so ladies, we cry and we pray when we're in the middle of this, of the circumstances, but we keep going and we keep serving and we keep hoping and we keep our eyes on the Lord. May what we read in Hebrews 10 35 through 39 be said of us. So don't throw away your confidence. It will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you've done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised for in just a little while.

He who is coming will come and will not delay, but my righteous one will live by faith and if he shrinks back, I won't be pleased with him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but are of those who believe and are saved. Ladies, let us not be those that shrink back, but let us keep our eyes on the Lord. Let's keep going on this journey that he has us on because we're to be moving forward. We're not to get stuck and we're not to turn around. We're to keep going forward.

Well, you know that question. Are we there yet? David asked a similar question of the Lord four different times in a Psalm that only has six verses. He asked the same question and it was how long? Oh Lord, how long? Oh Lord. So I'm going to read Psalm to you. This is from David and they D scholars don't know exactly when he pinned this on, which is actually kind of nice because you can picture David went through mini mountain tops and valleys just like we do in our lives, right?

And so this Psalm can be applied to any of those mountaintop or Valley moments. He said, how long? Oh Lord, will you forget me forever. How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts? And every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Oh Lord my God, give light to my eyes or I will sleep in death. My enemy will say, I have overcome him and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But don't you love it when there's a therefore or a bet? But I trust in your unfailing love. My heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for he has been good to me. How long? Oh Lord, in the weight of hope. Ladies, it's easy to feel forgotten and unseen by the Lord. Isaiah 49 says, can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child? She's born? Absolutely not, though she may forget. The Lord says, I will not forget.

You see, I have engraved you on the palms of my hand and your walls are ever before me. Those walls that we've tried to build up to protect ourselves, he knows they're there and he's engraved us in the Palm of his hands. Ladies, he could never forget us, and I can't imagine a mother for getting a child that she's nursing, but the Lord says, even if she would, I would not forget you.

You know, we may feel shame because of sins that have been done to us or sins that we've committed in the past, and we might want to hide like Adam and Eve did. But you know what, ladies, that's the worst thing that we need to do because the Lord will never hide his face from us. But the enemy wants to say, Oh, the Lord doesn't want to look at you. He's hiding his face from you because of what you've done or what one of your kids has done or what's been done to you. But that's not from the Lord.

That's not from him. It says in Psalm three, three, but you are a shield around me. Oh Lord, you bestow glory on me and you lift my head. You know when , uh , when you see a little one who's just ashamed to tell you that they stole a cookie, you know, it's like Jesus just, he just lifts our head. He says, let me look you in the eyes. Let me count your freckles. Let me tell you how much I love you. Yeah, we need to deal with this sin issue, but we're going to be okay. My blood is covered.

That and all you need to do is ask for forgiveness. He's the glory and the lifter of our heads. Ladies, we're not forgotten. We're not unseen. Well, in the weight of hope emotions, try to take the driver's seat. Have your emotions ever tried to take the driver's seat? Oh, like David, we at times maybe have a wrestling match going on in our thought life. Oh, we might experience days of deep sorrow and gloom. We just want to pull the covers over our head. Long . Do I have to go to work?

Do I have to get up and pack lunches for the kids? I don't want to, but remember, ladies, let's keep going. Let's keep moving forward. Even when those days of gloom come, Oh, we've got to begin to take every thought captive, right? And make it obedient to the Lord. Because the enemy wants to have a heyday with our thoughts. When those hopeless times come right, he wants to remind us of everything that's been done to us. Everything we've done, everything that's that's going wrong.

He's just playing that on repeat over and over again. Oh, but Jesus says, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways. My ways declares the Lord and Isaiah as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than yours. And you know, and those broken hearted moments, he's close to us. He's close to us all the time, but I think when we're brokenhearted, he's even closer. He's like, come on, I got your right here. Come on in. Come on in.

Let's bind up those broken places. Let's take care of some of those things. I've got ya. I've got ya. I'm going to take really good care of you. And it even says in Psalms that he [inaudible] collects our tears. What he collects our tears, our tears matter to him. They let the tears flow. It's okay. He's given us tears. Tears can be cleansing. They can be refreshing. You know, you might look a little puffy afterwards, but it's worth it.

Okay. And you know, he doesn't miss one of those and he doesn't just pass the tissues. He collects our tears in a bottle. I wonder what he's going to do with those, huh? I don't know. But he collects them. You know what in Jesus wept. You remember that? He wept. He walked on this earth and he had sorrowed. He understood grief and he wept. And he, I believe that he weeps with us. Sometimes we feel stuck in the middle though, right? Of the facts of what's going on and of hope.

Because sometimes we can say, this is what's going on. I can't conceive right now, or I don't have a job right now and I need what? These are the facts, but yet, Lord, what are you saying? So there's the facts and there's the hope and sometimes we get stuck in the middle. Well, you know who understood that our father of faith, Abraham, Abraham understood being in that tension of the now and not yet. Right ?

Says in Romans four 18 through 21 this has been a just a passage that's really meant a lot to me over the last couple of years. So against all hope, against all hope ladies, Abraham in hope believed. And so he became the father of many nations. Just as it had been said, Oh, we've got to know what the Lord has said to us. And even when we feel that all hope is against us in hope, we can take the Lord at his word.

So without wavering in his faith, Abraham faced the fact that his body was as good as dead and that he, because he's about a hundred years old, right? His body was as good as dead and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he faced the facts, yet he did not waver in unbelief regarding the promises of God, but was strengthened by his faith and gave glory to God being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised.

So are we spending more time focusing on the earthly facts that are tripping us up? Are we spending more time measuring our giants, our giant problems? Or are we growing our faith in prayer and in God's word so that we know what he has said to us? Because what he has said to us, we can take to the bank, and I love that it says that the grass Withers, the flowers fade, all these beautiful things in the spring, those are going to go, but the word of God stands forever.

Ladies get in the word, we get to bring that with us. His words will reverberate throughout eternity. This is not a book that is going to go out of style or is going to get a be obsolete. It will be with us eternally so we can face the facts ladies like Abraham did without allowing them to cloud over our hope and our promises of the Lord. Don't you love when when a rainbow appears after that cloudy, stormy night or stormy day? Not nighttime.

You don't see the rainbow, the nighttime, but during the day, I mean ladies, those things suddenly appear after the cloud and after the storm. And so let's keep our eyes on the Lord and not allow our emotions to dictate. Lisa Turkers said, feelings are indicators, not dictators.

They can indicate where our heart is in the moment, but that doesn't mean they have the right to dictate our behavior and boss us around you are more than the sum total of your feelings and you're perfectly capable of that little gift called self control. So feelings are indicators, not dictators. And sometimes it takes a little self control to say feelings. You are not dictating my day today. Hope arise, hope arise. My feelings are not in charge today in the weight of hope.

Ladies, we need to know that our voice is heard. Oh, there's a shift in the middle of Psalm 13 after following those, how long a Lord? Questions four of those. How long? Oh Lord, how long? Oh Lord, how long? Oh Lord, how long? Oh Lord. And then there's a shift. And David says, look on me. Answer me. Can't you just hear the axed in his voice? He was ever said to the Lord, do you see me, Lord, look on me. Answer me, Lord, I need you.

Well , we all desire to be heard and to be seen, especially by the Lord. And you know what? Like I said earlier, not only does he see us, but he sees us with eyes of love. You know the little emoji that has a little hard eyes. He has heart eyes for us. Ladies, he has heart eyes for us. Amen.

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